All it would take to confirm Langley hobby farmer Trevor French's story about the fate of Stanley Park's goats is one person coming forward.

French spoke to the Langley Advance Tuesday, after allegations surfaced that he sold some or all of the goats he adopted from Stanley Park's petting zoo through a local livestock auction house.

"I firmly believe that no petting zoo goats went to the auction," French said.

Why would anyone buy an animal that was up to 12 or 13 years old for meat, he asked. "They would be tough as an old boot," French said.

However Ken Pearson, the owner of Fraser Valley Auctions, said he recalls goats that looked like the herd from Stanley Park being sold through the auction house last year in February, March, and April. He identified them from pictures of the goats at the petting zoo before it was closed down.

When Vancouver Parks employees arrived at French's house on Monday, they found just one of the 17 goats that had been given to French in January 2011.

French said the rest of the goats were given away, but he doesn't have the names or any contact information for the people to whom he gave them.

He also didn't recall how many goats each of the people took, or how many groups or individual goats he gave away at any one time.

The method of finding new owners was a message offering goats to a good home, posted at the Otter Co-op, French said.

People contacted him and took the goats away in trailers or trucks, he said. None of them went to friends.

"I don't know where any of them went," he said.

However, he said he is confident they went to good homes, likely as pets, companions for other animals, or to keep the grass trimmed on local acreages.

French said he's been giving away most of his animals due to an acrimonious divorce.

He slammed the original news coverage that linked the Stanley Park goats to Fraser Valley Auctions.

"It's been traumatic, my whole life has been turned upside down," French said.

A hobby farmer, French said he sells a few sides of beef a year, just enough to maintain his property's farm status. He has kept goats, sheep, cattle, and a llama, among other animals over the years.

His Craigslist ad offering fresh ground beef, lamb, or chicken for dog food hasn't had any takers in the several years he's been posting it, he said.

The last goat remaining from the Stanley Park herd, Twyka, a pregnant female goat, was collected Monday and taken back to the park to be temporarily housed at the defunct petting zoo. The animals there were adopted out when the zoo was closed down a little over a year ago.

Wendy Stewart with the City of Vancouver said legal action is underway, as French appears to have breached a part of his contract with the Vancouver Park Board not to sell or give away the animals without their consent.

French claims he tried to reach the former petting zoo staff via email, but with the closure of the petting zoo, their email addresses were being shut down, and he had no other contacts.

Vancouver is also following up with 12 other adoptive farms that took in various other animals.

Anyone who knows the present location of one of the former petting zoo goats can contact the Langley Advance at 604-534-8641.

mclaxton@langleyadvance.com